Why is Sarah Palin hated with such fervour?

I firmly believe that decades from now, many theses will be written about the peculiar form of Palin Derangement Syndrome that keeps cropping up, even now, when she’s been effectively marginalized (until 2016, anyway.) Here, in a bit of what they would recognize as an ironic development if they were sufficiently self-aware, feminists are dealt a good dressing-down for their silence on Palin-bashing by white male classical scholar Victor Davis Hanson in The Corner:

Letterman attacked in crass sexual terms both Palin and her daughter: Two of the rhetorical cornerstones of the feminist movement used to be zero-tolerance for sexual slurs by men alleging promiscuity (“slutty flight-attendant look”), and jokes about something as serious as rape (e.g., Palin’s 14-year-old daughter “knocked up by Alex Rodriguez”). David Letterman, who has become ever more creepy in his dotage, on both counts proved a boor — and receives only silence?

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Brigitte disagrees some: I don’t believe Sarah Palin is marginalized, and certainly not until 2016. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I don’t think so. For the people who fear her (those who suffer from PDS), the future is bleak.

But it’s more than just fear. Some of this anti-Palin behaviour (much like anti-Bush behaviour except more vicious and sexually explicit) cannot be explained rationally. How do you explain feminists not rising to the defence of a 14-year-old girl when a powerful older man “jokes” about her like that?

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Andrea adds: Just this past weekend I was asked why I liked Sarah Palin so much, beyond the life factor. These friends–all exceptionally good people–gazing at me with faces filled with a mix of confusion and concern, actually, as in how on earth can our good friend Andrea feel this way? In return, I ask only this–what’s not to like?

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I think feminists see in Sarah Palin someone who managed to do what they ascribe to, but she didn’t use their methods. She has so much going for her, looks, brains, femininity, a good looking husband who loves her, and the thing that ticks most feminists off – she is five abortions short of becoming the president.

I do believe it is her traditional values, and the prime one of all – being pro-life – that makes many women shun her.

The unfortunate thing about Palin is that there were sufficient sound-bites from her in a particular interview that made it look like she didn’t have much of a global outlook. That despite her executive experience, the impression came along that she was very small time. Whether that is true or not, the unfortunate thing is the impression you make early gives people a bias towards or against you. Because of that bias, few people cared that she did well in the debates. They already felt she was selected for the VP spot on the grounds of her looks and her Pro-Life stand. A lot of people seem extremely unwilling to challenge their first impressions.

I agree that it is disgusting the things that are said about her and the double standards of feminists. I think what drives some so crazy (aside from the obvious pro-life, hunter, pro-development stuff and massive crowds that love her) is that they have not taken her down, she still seems so damn happy/confident with her life and that she does not need to win or gain acceptance. She will speak her truth and be happy whether she keeps power, loses power or gains more political power. To those who spend a lifetime trying to “say the right thing” and not offend anyone and keep power for power’s sake, she is frightening.

Brigitte – I agree with you re: 2012, especially with the deficits/high oil prices/etc. What else can they do to try and bring her down before then – they are have tried almost everything. And as a fellow non-religious person I am glad you feel that way. Like, Andrea my friends think I am crazy too.

Matthew N: Biden has made about 10,000 outrageous and incorrect comments on a daily basis and he is looked at as a “foreign policy expert”. The woman who supports safe drilling in ANWR, maintaining missile defense funding in the line fire of of NK, reducing gov’t spending and valueing human life is the smart one.

ps: why isn’t Todd Palin called out as a “feminist” hero? This is a guy who feels comfortable taking care of his infant on national TV while his wife speaks. In my books that is an historical first is it not?

Certainly there are reasons that those who monopolize the “feminist” title dislike (and possibly fear?) Sarah Palin, but as I see it the primary cause for the “PDS” pandemic is that the media sufficiently convinced audiences that she is just plain stupid. I think we can admit that her ability to speak knowledgably about foreign policy could use a lot of work before we’d be comfortable with her as US commander in chief, but we should not be letting anyone think that she is dumb or incapable of being a good leader.

I don’t particularly care for Palin as a politician, but I admire her tremendously as a woman. She embodies what feminists have been talking about since I was a child: a woman who is both successful in her personal and public life. She certainly seems to have it all. One of the cardinal sins that Sarah Palin committed, in the eyes of feminists, was that she gave birth to a child with Downs Syndrome rather than have an abortion. They will never forgive her for that!